Our Week in the Forest...
It’s been a week full of emotion in the forest as we’ve had a number of last days, but we’ve also had a few first days.
It’s been so encouraging to hear all the lovely feedback we’ve had from our holiday camp parents and we love welcoming new faces into the forest! The campers who are at primary school, can sometimes take a little while to warm up, not used to the free, child-led structure we think is so valuable at Little Forest Folk. However, once we’ve had our morning circle time and the children go off to play, they usually get to grips with it pretty quickly.
Without all the inhibitions we grow to have as adults, the children play freely with one another, usually seemingly rather unfazed at the fact they have been left somewhere they might never have been or that they might not know anyone. One of the reasons they feel at ease so quickly is because our regular Little Forest Folk-ers are so welcoming. They have loved not only showing the holiday campers around but also showing off to them! In return the campers have revelled in explaining concepts they have learnt at school, showing how they can add and subtract, talking about their favourite things to learn and our regulars have listened intently to this, as of yet, unknown world to them.
We have also begun to settle a few new children this week before it starts in earnest next week. The children who have come so far, have been siblings of children who already attend. This has given them an air of confidence that they know the educators and settings, so have fitted right in. This again is something we do incredibly well at Little Forest Folk – children settle remarkable quickly!
Whether it be their first experience away from mum or dad or whether they are seasoned pros of the nursery circuit, the variety of activities along with the freedom to explore, play and learn at their own speed makes for the perfect environment.
There have been so many different things for the children to take part in this week which has made for a great time in the forest. Our Dinosaur River has once again had dinosaurs roaming it. The children have loved these new toys and this has formed a big part of their play throughout their days. We’ve had bug hunts, finding worms, beetles, centipedes and even a frog! We were then very careful to put these minibeasts back to where they came from and where they were happier. We collected stones and decorated them with faces and we made lots of different patterns on the ground. To create these pieces of artwork the children collected sticks, stones and leaves. They discussed the patterns they would make, thinking about symmetry and how they could incorporate different shapes into their patterns.
We hope you all have had such a wonderful summer too and have a lovely long weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth